Behold a Little Child

Behold a little child
laid in a manger bed;
the wintry blasts blow wild
around his infant head.
But who is this, so lowly laid?
The Lord by whom the worlds were made.

Alas! in what poor state
The Son of God is seen;
Why doth the Lord so great
Choose out a home so mean?
That we may learn from pride to flee,
And follow his humility.

Where Joseph plies his trade,
Lo! Jesus labours too;
The hands that all things made
An earthly craft pursue,
That weary men in him may rest,
And faithful toil through him be blest.

The hands that all things made
an earthly craft pursue;
where Joseph plies his trade,
there Jesus labours too,
that weary ones in him may rest,
and faithful toil through him be blest.

Among the doctors see
The Boy so full of grace;
Say, wherefore taketh he
The scholar's lowly place?
That Christian boys, with rev'rence meet,
May sit and learn at Jesus' feet.

Christ! once thyself a Boy,
Our boyhood guard and guide;
Be thou its light and joy,
And still with us abide,
That thy dear love, so great and free,
May draw us evermore to thee.

Christ, Master-Carpenter,
we come rough-hewn to thee;
at last, through wood and nails,
thou mad'st us whole and free.
In this thy world remake us, planned
to truer beauty of thine hand.